Making A Christmas Wreath
When we brought home our Christmas tree this year, we were surprised to find it didn’t fit in our house. It was over 9 feet tall! We had to cut quite a bit off the bottom, and when I saw all the branches being sawn off, I had the idea to repurpose them for other Christmas decor. I had already purchased garland, so decided to make a wreath with the cuttings. My goal was to make a soft, natural wreath without the “store-bought” look.
Here is how I did it:
Supplies:
Wreath Frame: Whenever Christmas is over, I always separate the greens from the metal wreath frame on my wreaths in order to properly dispose of the organic material in our bins. Last year, I kept the wreath bases to use again. If you don’t already have a wreath base, you can easily source one on Amazon or from Michael’s. They are inexpensive.
Wire: I used green florist’s wire
Greenery: Our tree was a Douglas fir so our wreath is as well. Many store-bought wreaths are made of other greenery, but Douglas Fir smells the best and last the longest.
Decorations: I wanted a natural look so I cut some Cottoneaster Berries (mildly poisonous so these shouldn’t be used where small children could eat them) and used two dried brown lotus seed pods as my “something brown”
Ribbon: I used a lighter red to match the Cotoneaster berries
Loppers + Pruners: I needed loppers to remove the larger branches from the trunk sections we removed. Pruners were necessary to create small trimmings.
Process:
Using loppers, I cut many branches off the trunk pieces we removed from the tree.
I used the larger branches to create the base of the wreath and used smaller cuttings to finish the top
I gather 2-3 large branches and using florist wire, attached them to the metal frame
I continued doing this until the metal frame was covered in larger branches
I then used smaller cuttings to create another ring around the base, covering the larger branch bases
When the greenery was to my liking, I used small pieces of wire to attach 9 sprigs of Cotoneaster. Many of the sprigs were doubled up before attaching them to a strong branch
To attach the seed pods, I poked florist wire through the underside and attached them to sturdy branches
I finished the wreath with a loop of red ribbon, tied in a tight knot at the top. With another ribbon, I tied a bow around the knot at the top. It was important to have two separate ribbons - one for holding it up and the other for a decorative bow - so that it would be more secure